Now it can be told…
There’s a ton of Tommy Morrison stories yet to recount in the wake of his sad passing at age 44. For me, they started in the early days of my running the Pitch more than 20 years ago when Morrison became a friend of the zine at the ripe young age of 20.
“To the Pitch Staff, Best Wishes, Tommy “The Duke” Morrison,” reads the autographed, black and white photo of a pre-mullet, almost cherubic Morrison.
I stumbled onto a Rocky marathon a day or three ago and was able DVR Rocky V.
Sylvester Stallone was so bad in that movie, he made Tommy look good – which isn’t saying much. Still, it was interesting to think back to the story about Dawn 2 picking Morrison up from prison and telling ESPN they were anticipating a call from Stallone for a post-HIV diagnosis followup flick.
Fat chance.
However, the most haunting bit of information to come my way in the wake of Morrison’s passing was word from his former backer Susan Martin that according to her son Stephen Bayer – a close pal of Tommy’s over the years – “Tommy found out he was HIV positive back in 1989.”
In other words, seven years prior to Morrison’s earth shattering 1996 diagnosis in Nevada.
“Yeah, that’s what he told me,” Bayer says. “He told me that after everything went down in 1996. He told me he had come down with it, but everything was basically just taken care of.”
As a longtime friend of Tommy’s Bayer wants the truth about his pal to come out.
“I want to get everything right,” Stephen says. “Because Tommy deserves that.”
Stay tuned….
Hearne…its almost ghoulish the way you try to hurt the families
and friends of those who pass.
You did it with harmon and now with tommy…and the mistakes
that were noted by his family only prove that you really
need to check and edit your own stories for mistakes
let the people rest. They’ve lived their lives. Whats the point
of kicking them after they’re gone.
I don’t get it…what good does it do beside hurt the family that’s
left behind.
There are kids involved in this story hearne..have you no
decency.
Many of these claims are falsehoods and lies. They can’t
be proven. They have no tests/charts etc. to prove this crap.
I would suggest going to either virgets or john brown to findthe
truth before you publish such accusations.
I’minterested in seeing what you do to follow this up.
Harley, Hearne is nothing more than a gossip columnist whose stories are based on innuendo, not fact. He came up to me at an after party, Irish Dan Murphy fight, gave me his card & told me to call him with any dirt on Tommy.
What else do u expect from a snake but slime?
you have no idea of what the truth is. Tommy gave my best friend the HIV virus when they dated in the 90’s and we were roommates in KC and also ring girls for a couple of his fights. He was constantly in Hooters in Overland PArk KS and that’s where we worked and she first met him. He was not a good person. I remember a night in KC down on the plaza when they got in a fight and he slashed a broken beer bottle on her chest. She ended up with 15 stitches and a out of court settlement. She died in 2006 from AIDS and Tommy is responsible for her death. I contacted him when she was dying in a hospital in Tennessee and he threatened to sue and did not help her in any way.
I will never forget that or forgive him.
virgets, john brown, tony holden, randy lang. myself included. We all know the truth. He had HIV and he denied it and lied for years.
what about the kids that my best friend was NEVER able to have because Tommy Morrison killed her?!! What about that?
Harley. You have no idea what the truth is!!!
debbi moore…if you workedat hooters at Metcalf i’m
sure we met. Was friends with the owner/manager
mike for years and from the day it opened knew him and
his girlfriend well (can’t remember him well)
under no circumstance and to be honest I never really
knewall the stuff that tommy did.
knew he was having his way with lots of womenin his
days in kc but never knew the attack or hiv/aids story.
I was surprised and did not know he was positive
until the word came out on tv.
I never condoned his actions. We all partied inthose
years at places like XO/coliseum/Westport/and in Kansas
at after hours places. I met tommy thru a mutual friend
and followed his career including his rocky 5 movie.
You’re right…I didn’t know a lot about the guy and probably
much was hidden to keep the gravy train going.
Your story about your friends attack is news to me
today.
But I didknow that tommy was very active sexually and
at that time we were all aware of aids/hiv and some of
us took particular actions to protect ourselves.
I had a girlfriend at the time so I eseentialy was tied down
buut I did get to see tommy quite a bit as I worked out
at ballys in overland park which was one of his training
areas.
he was noangel…we knew that thenand now. But it
was his life. saw him fight in kc and heard of the after
party….not my style of what went on there..but bakcin
that period it was not unusual for those types of parties
to occur.
I have maintained that regardless of his lifestyle and the
way he lived his life…that now he is asking probably
asking for redemption from “his”god if he had one.
Life is kind of crazy…when we get to the end our
priorities change and we realize that lifes more than
the glitz and glamour.
For y ourfriend…who iprobablymet at sometime…I can’t
imagine the feeling and hurt she overcame and endured
during those years. I’msure you were an angel who was
the only friend to help her during those times.
For tommy…i’m sure in his final days…he had angels
too. Two lives that ended way too soon. So much
potential for both lives .
We may never know the actual stories of how this all
came to be but we do know that god loved each of them
…no matter the situation.
Obviously you’ve carried your anger and hurt for many
years. Noone can blame you. We’ve all lost friends
and family and felt that loss for a long long time.
But as I learned from those who were smarter and
more religious than I am..is that god loves us all…
and hopefully each of us reaches a point in our lives
when the pain and hurt ends.
I knew tommy not thru partying or his wild lifestyle
but mostly thru work on some projects and helping us
put together an exercise program.
The people you named may have known the real
story. I do remember many of those names and every
once in a while run into them here in kc.
My hope is what I wrote is that we let tommy rest in peace.
I also hope that your friend rest in peace.
Too many young talent loving friends and family of
many people losing their lives at wayto young a life.
may peace and love help all involved thru the tough
days and may all who knw these people understand
as Ialwsy say “we make our own beds…eventually we wll
have to sleep in them”.
take care….be at peace…and hopefully these stories may
have chaned at least one persons attitude about livng
life.
sad for all. good luck debbi….and to all the friendsand
family of everyone who’s lives were taken too soon.
life isn’t fair…
sincerely
Harley .
When did he have the full blown AIDS??
That’s what I wanna know.
“full blown?” If your T levels are low enough to test positive for AIDS, say in 1989, you have it full blown (it just doesn’t physically show). The viral load count is maxed after just having AIDS for 1 month. Its like comparing falling off a 1,000 foot cliff or a 2,000 foot cliff. Either way, your going to die. But it does takes twice as long to hit bottom if your falling from the 2,000 foot cliff. Hopefully this very sad story will prevent future risky activity. I would have loved to see Tommy become a bigger legend and fought on for years. So sad.
That we may never know…
Because according to Tommy – and I guess his widow – he never had it
Yes Stephen is correct.
My best friend dated Tommy in the early 90’s. I knew him personally and I knew Stephen. We both worked at Hooters and were ring girls for one of his fights in KC. Tommy was not good for her and was violent, he cut her chest with a beer bottle down in Westport one night and I remember Derrick Thomas (RIP) calling to tell me that she had gone to the ER. She ended up with stitches and a settlement.
She also ended up with the HIV virus.
I was her legal guardian and had to decide whether to turn off the life support machine or not as she lay dying in a cold, lonely hospital room dying from the AIDS virus that Tommy Morrison gave her.. She told me in 96 shortly after Tommys news and she died 9-12-2006
There is the true story.
There is so much more than that and I have all the proof you need.
Tommy is no legend.. His sordid past killed my best friend. RIP T.E.
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Debbie, I am sorry that you lost your friend. I met her a few times back in the day and she was rememberable as she was “all around” a nice person. I remember when she passed. That next day a very upset person told me she died of cancer, but now understand that the person telling me didn’t want to disclose more. I had only met your friend a few times, and really I was in no position to be told anymore. Time goes by so fast, but I won’t forget her or the unfairness. Its honestly the worst thing that could ever happen to a young person.
Debbie- I am touching up a book on Tommy. I would like to hear your story. Please email me at barcombtko@yahoo.com. Sorry to hear of your good friends passing.